The Nigerian President Mohamed Bazoumvisiting the south-east of the country, close to Nigeria, hailed Sunday the “good results” once morest the jihadists of Boko Haram and theIslamic state in West Africa (Iswap, its dissident branch) ensuring that the “war” was being “won”.
“The results are there, they are good,” welcomed the head of state in front of soldiers in a garrison in Diffa, the big city in southeastern Niger near Nigeria and cradle of the jihadists. “We have made the (safe) system more consistent.
Soon the end of Boko Haram
We are winning this war (…) we have very little effort left”, he also launched to the soldiers stationed in the commune of Gueskérou, very close to Nigeria, considering that the “end of Boko Haram is very close “.
Mohamed Bazoum visits his soldiers stationed in Diffa on the Nigerian border
Mohamed Bazoum has been staying in Diffa since Saturday, where he met soldiers deployed along the Nigerian border, including a contingent of 1,000 new local recruits dedicated to “securing” the villages where thousands of displaced people were resettled last year. . “If we make an assessment of this year and compare it to previous years, we clearly note that it has improved,” he said. “We have noted far fewer casualties than usual in your ranks, we have also noticed far more casualties in the ranks of our enemy,” he continued. He announced that displaced populations from 45 villages in the Gueskérou area will soon be brought back to their places of origin. According to local authorities, between June and July 2021, 26,573 people who fled the violence were returned to 19 villages where security had been “reinforced”. But according to a local elected official, the “elements of Boko Haram continued to sow panic, in particular by harassing people with kidnappings”, pushing “some to flee their village once more”. Before their repatriation, these displaced people had found refuge in sites around more secure villages, UN camps or with relatives throughout the region.
300,000 Nigerian refugees in Diffa
The Diffa region, bordering Nigeria, is home to 300,000 Nigerian refugees and internally displaced people, driven out by the abuses of Boko Haram and Iswap, according to the UN. Niger must also deal with the actions of Sahelian jihadist groups, including theIslamic state in the Greater Sahara (EIGS), in its western part, where attacks are regular and bloody, targeting civilians and soldiers.